How much promotion does geocaching need?

[BugznElm'r]

I've been thinking a bit about this recently ...

How much promoting to muggles do you think geocaching needs (I'm thinking media and press here not Web so much)? Do you feel that it is a case of "more the merrier" and new blood in a sport or hobby is a bad thing or do you think that there is a risk of "lowering the entry bar" to the sport and bringing in the wrong kind of people?

Do you think that promotion is a good thing or do you think that the Magellan competition in the US should be a warning about mainstreaming the sport?

Personally, I&#39;m not sure ... I fear that as with most other things we are going to see more commercial cachers unless we are careful ... I fear that Magellan has let the genie out <_< and we need to be vigilant about that now.

What are your thoughts?

[Richard and Beth]

I think that it is important to keep new blood coming in, in order to replace those who stop caching for one reason or another. Whilst the total number of cachers is growing, many of the cachers who were active when I started now do not cache. I also don&#39;t think that it can be argued that having less publicity will stop &#39;the wrong kind of people&#39; playing the game, although I&#39;m not quite sure who would be classed as &#39;the wrong kind of people&#39; - I suspect everybodies definition would be different.

With respect to the Magellan promotion, it is worth mentioning that it is not the first, and probably not the last time that a corporation has used Geocaching in this way. Take a look here (http://www.projectape.com/) for Project A.P.E. (Mission 10b was the UK cache.) which was organised by Twentieth Century Fox to promote Planet of the Apes. My opinion is that for things like the Magellan and Project APE it is better for us to help corporations do things right, as especially with the new generation of location aware mobile phones, it won&#39;t be long before others cotton on to Geocaching like ideas for promotions.

Richard

[Kouros]

I&#39;m all for promotion of the game. Why?

Because if we promote it ourselves (and by that, I mean, general cachers promoting it, not just the people reading this forum) we can ensure it gets the right sort of coverage. We can encourage the view that caching is not about the gains, but the journey.

If we allow media types to pick up on it by themselves (and they will) there will be nothing to prevent it from being *******ised by any nefarious companies who insist on their product getting the limelight. Mr. Lovelock, anyone? At least this way, we can convey the ethos of the game.

I can&#39;t say I wholeheartedly agree with the Project APE and Magellan caches, but then they were organised by the singular company who has done more to benefit worldwide caching than any other (sorry Navicachers, but it&#39;s true) and, from what I hear about some of those caches(at least, the Project APE ones - I&#39;ve not heard much about the magellan ones - anyone have more info?), they did seem like fun. Therefore, if GC.com benefit from it, that&#39;s all well and good - at least these caches are highlighted as being "commercial" to a degree. If you don&#39;t like &#39;em, don&#39;t do &#39;em.

[EDIT: Actually, having said that, were the Magellan caches anything to do with GC.com at all? I&#39;m afraid I really don&#39;t know much about them...]

Occasionally, people suggest that we should be less inclusive in the game - to not promote it, and keep it within the current caching circle, or those who stumble across it (like most of us did). The idea being that more people=more danger=more trashed caches.

Personally, I think that&#39;s a little elitist. I enjoy the game - everyone I know who has taken part enjoys it too (heck, my brother in law has somewhat fallen head over heels for it) why should we deprive other people from enjoying the game too? Even if we do get a few bad apples by publisising the game, I&#39;m more than certain we&#39;d make up for it with some extra juicy tasty ones.

[MCL]

I have posted my thoughts on this over on teh GC.COM forum.

However, I will repeat the gist of it here.

The only proper way to promote geocaching is to actually show someone in person. No other promotion is good enough, IMHO. All other types will end up with some of the people getting the wrong end of the stick, (eg the Mod Ants, many of whom I&#39;m sure have taken a view without actually having tried the sport.)

The only sure way to give people the right end of the stick 100% of the time is to take someone out with you to do a cache. That is one reason the HCC event was such a good thing, because again, people learned by doing, not learned by reading.

So yes, promote it. Each person do their bit by introducing new people. Organise more hands-on events. But please please don&#39;t make the mistake of thinking that TV, Radio and newspaper coverage will be better than hands-on. In the long run we will all regret it. Such coverage is out of our control, and out of our league.